Top Morgan Stanley Advisor Fined and Suspended

Posted on July 5th, 2024 at 8:55 AM
Top Morgan Stanley Advisor Fined and Suspended

From the desk of Jim Eccleston at Eccleston Law

A prominent Morgan Stanley advisor has accepted a 45-day suspension and a $10,000 fine for unauthorized money transfers and using personal communication channels for business-related texts, according to a FINRA settlement letter known as an Acceptance, Waiver, and Consent (“AWC”).

AdvisorHub reports that Gregg W. Gravenstine, a 36-year industry veteran, transferred $24,109 from a customer's account to an account owned by the customer's father without proper authorization. Between February and November 2019, Gravenstine made ten such transfers, or “cash journals”, at the request of the customer's father, a longtime friend and client, despite lacking approval from the son. According to AdvisorHub, the son filed an arbitration complaint to dispute those transfers, and the father repaid the transferred amounts.

Additionally, from August 2020 to August 2021, Gravenstine sent around 700 business-related text messages from his personal cell phone to ten customers. This action violated Morgan Stanley’s policy against using unapproved communication channels and caused the firm to breach FINRA’s recordkeeping rules, as the messages were not recorded. Gravenstine’s actions also violated its catch-all Rule 2010, which requires advisors to adhere to “high standards of commercial honor.”

 

Eccleston Law LLC represents investors and financial advisors nationwide in securities, employment, transition, regulatory, and disciplinary matters.

Tags: eccleston, eccleston law

Return to Archive

TESTIMONIALS

Previous
Next

If the regulators are after you, and are trying to make a case against you, and you are going to contest their allegations against you, make sure you have the best securities industry defense lawyers, Eccleston Law Firm. My case was spun into a combination of penalties including fines, cash settlements, CE courses and suspension. They were the best I have seen in action. When all was said and done, they had done their magic, my situation was negotiated and settled with a simple "letter of caution" and a case closed without action. It is the most important legal business decision you will ever make, make it Eccleston Law.

Rick R.

LATEST NEWS AND ARTICLES

March 4, 2026
Modern Fraud Schemes Escalate in Scale and Sophistication

A recent panel discussion at the Financial Services Institute OneVoice conference in San Diego highlighted how rapidly evolving fraud schemes continue to victimize both retail and wealthy investors.

March 3, 2026
FINRA Suspends Former Stifel Broker Over Costly Account Switching Trades

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) suspended a former Stifel, Nicolaus & Co.

March 2, 2026
FINRA Suspends Cetera Broker for Accepting $50,000 Client Bequest Without Firm Approval

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) imposed a $10,000 fine and a seven-month suspension on an independent broker for accepting a $50,000 bequest from a client without obtaining prior firm approval.